Pros

Cons

Not for purists seeking accurate frequency response.

Lacks track navigation controls.

Most of the portable, outdoor-friendly Bluetooth speakers we test are on the fairly small side—you can throw them in a backpack, or perhaps even a coat pocket. Then there are the offerings from Soundcast. The water-resistant Soundcast VG5, reviewed here, stand 17 inches tall and packs some serious audio firepower. At $499.99, it's not the priciest outdoor wireless speaker we've tested, but it's up there. The good news is, it earns its price and then some. If you're looking for an outdoor-friendly speaker that will bring seriously thunderous audio to your party, the VG5 is an excellent option, and our Editors' Choice.

Design

The overall design of the VG5 is more functional than anything else. Its matte black contour measures 17.0 by 7.8 by 7.8 inches (HWD) and weighs a hefty 11.7 pounds. There's a hand grip under the top panel, on the back end, that makes carrying it less awkward. Like many outdoor-friendly speakers, it has several rubberized surfaces, some of which attract quite a bit of dirt and dust. The speaker has an rating of IP64, which means it's completely protected from dust ingress and is splash resistant, but you shouldn't go throwing it in the pool.

The front panel houses an NFC pairing zone, while the angled top panel is home to a capacitive touch control pad. There's an array of backlit buttons for power, Bluetooth pairing, mute, play/pause, and volume up/down. There are no controls for track navigation, which is a bit of a bummer given the price. The mute button, when held down for five seconds, functions as a child lock, and you can program the speaker to auto-lock after three minutes of inactivity. Near the controls, an LED array provides a visual readout of volume levels and battery life. There's no built-in speakerphone function.

On the rear panel, near the base, there's a covered area that houses a 3.5mm aux input (an audio cable is included), a USB port for service, a pinhole reset button, and the connection for the included AC adapter. In addition to the power adapter and 3.5mm audio cable, the VG5 ships with a generous array of international wall plug adapters for the AC adapter—five in all, so you should be able to power it up just about anywhere.

Harman Kardon Onyx Mini

JBL Clip 2

JLab Block Party

Internally, the speaker tower houses dual 3-inch Neodymium drivers pushing out audio in a 360-degree array, as well as a single 6-inch down-firing woofer. The drivers are bi-amplified and receive 60 watts total. Near the base of the speaker, there are ported slots for air to escape through, allowing for more efficient driver movement.

The VG5 uses Bluetooth 4.2 technology, with support for hi-definition AAC and aptX codecs. Playback runs through what Soundcast refers to as its own proprietary 24-bit digital signal processing (DSP). Two VG5 speakers can be linked to form a stereo pair.

On a full charge, Soundcast estimates the VG5's battery life to be up to 10 hours, but this will of course vary with your volume levels and your mix of wired and wireless playback. It takes four to five hours to fully charge the VG5's battery.

Performance

On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the VG5 delivers absolutely thunderous bass response. At top, impressively loud levels, there is no distortion, and at more moderate levels, the bass is still quite intense. If you're playing it indoors, the bass will likely vibrate floors and rattle walls. Outdoors, things will still seem quite powerful, but tamed just slightly. The bass response and power don't seem to lessen when removed from the power adapter—the battery pumps out just as much bass depth and volume.

Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a beter sense of the VG5's overall sound signature. The drums on this track sound thunderous and huge through the VG5, and Callahan's baritone vocals are delivered with added richness in the low-mids. The balance of crisp high-mids and highs with the lows is solid—the guitar strums and higher-register percussive hits sound bright and things never get muddy, despite the bass boosting.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop gets enough high-mid presence for its sharp attack to remain punchy and push through the layers of the beat. Perhaps we'd prefer it to be a little more crisp here, but it's certainly never dulled, and the sound is once again powerful. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with slightly less power than the drum loop itself, which also gets plenty of added bass depth—this tells us the DSP dials back the sub-bass frequencies somewhat in certain scenarios, while lows and low-mids still get some serious boosting. The vocals on this track are delivered with excellent clarity in the high-mids and highs without sounding overly sibilant.

Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, get an almost unnatural level of bass presence, really pushing the lower register instrumentation forward in the mix. The higher register brass, strings, and vocals aren't overpowered, but the lows definitely vacate their supporting role and take stage front and center alongside the higher-register instruments. In other words, the VG5 isn't for purists. It's primarily ideal for popular music, and less so for orchestral tracks—it's going to be a crowdpleaser at parties, not a go-to for audiophiles.

Conclusions

The VG5's bigger sibling, the very expensive Soundcast VG7, distorts on some tracks with deep bass at high volumes and is even more massive than the VG5. The VG5, while not cheap, is far more affordable than its sibling, and does not distort, even at top volumes. It may not be for audiophiles looking for accurate response, but it is definitely ideal for those who want to fill their outdoor parties with music at high volumes, and with plenty of bass depth.

If you're looking for an outdoor speaker with perhaps a little less power—or a lower price tag—the JBL Charge 3, Bose SoundLink Revolve+, and Ultimate Ears UE Megablast are all outdoor-friendly options that are more traditionally sized than the VG5. But if you need a weather-resistant beast to power your next pool party, this model is one of the more powerful options we've tested, delivering on its price and earning our Editors' choice award.

Honest, Objective Reviews

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